Taking Kilinochchi

In the recent months Sri Lankan armed forces has marched towards the edges of Kilinochchi, the quasi-capital of the LTTE and the home of the ruthless, enigmatic and the fearless terrorist, relatively easily. But the drive to take over Kilinochchi was met with heavy resistance from cadres defending the town fiercely. despite the resistance, military experts believe the fall of Kilinochchi is inevitable and some in the south have already started planning the victory celebrations. But others have cautioned that the fall of Kilinochchi will simply drive the Tigers in to jungles of Vanni from where they will resort to hit and run tactics including carrying out suicide bombings on civilians targets.

While this may be true the reasons the Tigers are fighting tooth and nail to retain Kilinochchi may be due to a couple of reasons; Firstly, a struggle as is the fight for the Tamil state needs a nerve center without which the planning and coordination will be nearly impossible. Such a center is also needed for the purpose of propaganda and to exhibit authenticity to the top brass who control the destructive direction of the LTTE that has caused unspeakable suffering among the people.

Secondly, Prabhakaran in his late 50s is not in the same physical condition as he once was. He is said to be suffering from various ailments and needs the attention and comfort only possible in Kilinochchi. Despite having to sleep in a different bunker every night due to air attacks, Kilinochchi will be a far better option than the rough jungles of the Vanni where he will also not have the protection of the multi-layer concrete bunkers nor the modern day comforts he is known to enjoy in Kilinochchi. In Kilinochchi, these comforts have also been extended to visiting delegates and reporters in the past.

Last but not least, giving up Kilinochchi means the LTTE will give the opportunity for the government to establish civil services and provide the residents in the area who were under the rule of a tyrant to take part in democracy that governs the rest of the country. After 30 years of LTTE influence and hate propaganda, fall of Kilinochchi will likely open the way for the Sri Lankan government to convince the civilians that the "other side" in the war is not as bad as what Prabhakaran made it out to be and that there is a real chance of everyone in the country living together in peace and unity. This alone would be reason enough for the LTTE to defend Kilinochchi to the last rebel.

So despite the argument that LTTE will not be fully defeated even with fall of Kilinochchi, it is more about what the LTTE will lose rather than what Sri Lankan will gain. Should the government act prudently and enact reasonable process and due diligence, the fall of Kilinochchi could prove to be the turning point of our protracted war and the beginning of a new peaceful era in the history of our country. There is enough reason to take Kilinochchi - but what the government does subsequently could decide the merits of such a victory. So instead of planning a ticker tape parade with the expectation of the great victory in Kilinochchi, the government should be designing a political solution to put in place soon after Kilinochchi falls.